Water and air relief valve for steam-heating systems.



W. W. MORGAN & J. L. FITTS.

WATER AND AIR RELIEF VALVE FOR STEAM HEATING SYSTEMS.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. a, 1906.

1,041,144. Patented Oct. 15, 1912.

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W. W. MORGAN & J. L. FITTS. 7 WATER AND AIR RELIEF VALVE FOR STEAMHEATING SYSTEMS. APPLIUATIbN TILED JAN. 3, 1906. 1 ,041 ,144. Patented.Oct. 15, 1912.

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Allorney uuumuu PLANUGRAPII cu..wAsmNu'rnN u UNITED STATES PATENTOFFICE.

WILLIAM W. MORGAN, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, AND JAMES L. FITTS, OFMERCHANTVILLE, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNORS TO WARREN WEBSTER 8t COMPANY, A

CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

WATER AND AIR RELIEF VALVE FOR STEAM-HEATING SYSTEMS.

To all whom "it may concern:

Be it known that we, l/VILLIAM W. Mon- GAN, of the city and county ofPhiladelphia, State of Pennsylvania, and JAMES LOGAN Frrrs, ofMerchantville, county of Camden, and State of New Jersey, have inventedan Improvement in Water and Air Relief Valves for Steam-Heating Systems,of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates particularly to that class of valves in which amovable float or motor controlled by the accumulation of water in thevalve body controls the outlet, and said float or motor is provided witha tubular portion, communicating with the outlet, through which airpasses when the valve is closed. In such valves the float or motor isguided in its movements by a stationary guide extending into the tubularportion, and owing to the passage of small particles of foreign matterinto this tubular portion, it is liable to bind on its guide, and thesmall space between the guide and tubular portion, which must be keptopen for the passage of air, is liable to be clogged up.

It is the object of this invention, first to reduce the liability of thelodgmcnt of particles of foreign matter in the tube, by increasing thearea of the free passage between it and its guide, without decreasingthe elliciency of the guide, second to remove such particles of matteras may adhere to the inner walls of the tube and thus keep them clean,and third to keep clean the lower end of the tube which rests upon thevalve seat when the valve is closed.

In the drawings: Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view of a water andair relief valve embodying our invention, with the valve closed to theescape of water of condensation; Fig. 2 is a similar view showing thevalve open; Fig. 3 is a vertical section of part of the valve deviceshowing a modification with the valve closed; Fig. I is a similar viewwith the valve open; Fig. 5 is a transverse horizontal section on theline AA of Fig. 1; Fig. 6 is a horizontal section on the line 13-13 ofFig. 4; Fig. 7 is a transverse section of the tubular portion of themovable float or motor and its guide illustrating a modification; andFig. 8 is a vertical section of part of the valve device illustrating afurther modification.

The valve body a may be of the usual Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed January 3, 1906.

Patented Oct. 15, 1912.

Serial No. 294,454.

character having an inlet 1) and an outlet 0. It is shown open at thetop and provided with a removable screw threaded cap (Z.

6 is the motor Within the valve body,

which carries a valve-piece 7 adapted to control the thoroughfare to theoutlet. As shown this motor is a cup-shaped piece having a tubularportion 9 open at the top and bottom, which is guided upon a dependingguide stem it, carried by the cap, and the lower end of whichconstitutes the valve piece f. lVhen the lower end of the tubularportion g, which constitutes the valve piece, is resting on the seat 2',about the thoroughfare to the outlet 0, as shown in Fig. 1, the loweredge of the surrounding body of the cup 6 is elevated above the base ofthe body of the casing.

j is a depending wall or cylinder preferably carried by the cap (Z andsurrounding the cup 0 with a small clearance in between its inner faceand the outer face of the cup. This wall or cylinder is closed at thetop and extends down toward the base of the casing preferably below theinlet 1), but terminates at a distance above said base, so as to leave aclearance.

m is a tubular screen surrounding the wall or cylinder j. It is usuallyformed of perforated metal, and at its lower end rests upon the base ofthe casing, its upper end being clamped by a shoulder at of the cap (Z.The object of this screen is to prevent particles of matter that may becarried from the radiator from passing into the operative portions ofthe valve.

There is suflicient clearance between the tubular portion 9 and theguide it to permit such air as may pass into the valve body above theclosed top of the cup to pass or be drawn out through the outlet 0,while the valve piece f is closed on the seat 2'. Air may thus be drawnfrom the inlet 6 under the lower edge of the wall j, thence through thespace 7c and out through the clearance between the tube g and guide itto the outlet G, and the passageway thus afi'orded will be too small topermit the escape of any appreciable amount of steam.

So far as we have described the valve device it is of known constructionand we do not claim it as of our invention. We will now describe ourimprovements as applied to a valve device of this general character.

It is essential to the proper operation of the cup 0 that it should beguided positively by the stem it without appreciable lateral motion, andat the same time there must be sufiicient clearance to permit the air tobe discharged. With a very small clearance between the tubular portion 9and the stem, such as will produce proper guidance, much difficulty hasbeen experienced owing to the passage of small particles of dirt andforeign matter into the space between the tube 9 and guide. Such matterlodging in this space acts to clog it up and to bind the tube and guidetogether and impede the movement of the cup. Oily and sticky matter alsopasses into the small clearance, and adhering to the inner walls of thetube 9, interferes seriously with the sensitiveness of the cup. Toovercome this difliculty we propose to make the stem h angular in crosssection. This enables the angular edges of the guide to fit very closelywithin the tubular portion 9, so that the most effective guide isobtained, and at the same time the clearance or air passageway isincreased, and may in fact be made too large to retain such smallparticles of matter as may pass the screen 1%. There is also another andimportant advantage secured by this stem of angular section. During themovements of the cup, there is more or less rotation about the guide asan axis, and consequently the angular edges of the guide will act asscrapers to scrape off or loosen from the tube 9 such particles ofsticky matter as may find their way into it and adhere to its surface.

e do not mean to confine ourselves to any particular angular crosssection for the guide it. It may be triangular as shown in Fig. 5 orsquare as shown in Fig. 7 or in fact of any angular section which willaccomplish the objects. It is not essential that this angular sectionshould extend the whole length of the guide, and in Fig. 8 we have showna modification in which the guide is of an angular section at the upperportion only, the lower portion it being merely of reduced diameter. Insuch case, however, the portion of reduced diameter does not act as aguide and is ineffective for scraping andcleaning the interior of thetube.

It is particularly desirable that the lower end of the tube 5/, whichconstitutes the valve piece f, should be kept clean and free fromforeign matter. For this purpose we provide a small cleaning head orpiece 79, so placed that it will act upon the end f of the tube 9 as itrises and falls and scrape from it any particles of matter that mayadhere. In the construction shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 8 this head orcleaning piece p is on the lower end of the guide it and has a more orless sharp angular edge which fits within the tube 9 near its end. Itshould fit as closely as possible without affecting the freedom ofmovement of the tube 9' or the discharge of air. To secure the bestresults this cleaning head or piece 20 should be so located that whenthe cup 6 is lifted, the end f of the tube 9 will pass entirely aboveits edge, as shown in Figs. 2 and 5. It results from this that when thetube rises the head 79 will entirely remove from it any matter that mayhave been adhering to the extreme lower end. As the end f rises abovethe head 79 the latter will be exposed to the maximum clearance betweenthe guide h and tube and the water of condensation in the clearanceo-fwhich there is always some slight accumulation-will be permitted todischarge freely on the head p and remove from it any particles ofmatter that may have adhered. This effect is further increased by makingthe head 79 of conical form as shown. A special advantage of forming thehead p with a sharp edge, is that sand and other matter which pass intothe tube cannot lodge on this sharp edge and be jammed fast on theinside of the tube, as might occur if the edge of the head was of anysubstantial thickness. There is almost always considerable sand in newradiators and this must be discharged through the valves. If grains ofsand become jammed between the head and the walls of the tube, the valvewould stick and become inoperative. This is effectually prevented byproviding the head with the sharp edge. The grains of sand and suchother matter as may pass into the tube are arrested by the sharp edgedhead, and when the tube rises and its end passes above the head, sucharrested matter is washed off and freely discharged into the outlet.

Instead of placing the head 79 upon the end of the stem it may besupported from the base of the valve body as shown in Figs. 3, 4 and 6.In this case the head 7) is carried by a tubular piece and fitting inthe thoroughfare on the seat piece 8 and carrying the head on bars 6, twhich hold it at the proper elevation above the seat and afford openingsfor the discharge of the water through the tubular part r. T o preventparticles of matter lodging on these bars 25 25 they are preferably madeangular or with knife edges as shown in Fig. 6. These bars will also actas scrapers to remove matter that may adhere to the lower end of thetube g.

lVhat we claim is as follows:

1. In a water and air relief valve for steam heating systems, thecombination of a body having an inlet and an outlet, a motor within saidbody controlling said outlet and provided with a tube the lower end ofwhich constitutes the valve piece, and a stationary head having a sharpedge closely fitting the lower end of the tube when the tube is loweredand acting to arrest foreign matter entering the tube, said head beinglocated below the level assumed by the bottom of the tube when the tubeis raised by the motor, so that the arrested matter on said head will bedischarged when the tube is raised.

2. In a water and air relief valve for steam heating systems, thecombination of a body having an inlet and an outlet, a motor within saidbody controlling said outlet and provided with a tube, the lower end ofwhich constitutes the valve piece, and a stationary head of conicalform, having a sharp edge closely fitting the lower end of the tube whenthe tube is lowered and acting to arrest foreign matter entering thetube,'said head being located below the level assumed by the bottom ofthe tube when the tube is raised by the motor, so that the arrestedmatter on said head will be discharged when the tube is raised.

3. In a water and air relief valve for steam heating systems, thecombination of a body having an inlet and an outlet, a motor within saidbody controlling said outlet and provided with a tube the lower end ofwhich constitutes the valve piece, a stationary guide extending intosaid tube and provided with a head having a sharp edge closely fittingthe lower end of the tube when the tube is lowered and acting to arrestforeign matter entering the tube, said head being located below thelevel assumed by the bottom of the tube when the tube is raised by themotor, so that the arrested matter on said head will be discharged whenthe tube is raised.

4. In a water and air relief valve for steam heating systems, thecombination of a body having an inlet and an outlet, a tube one end ofwhich is adapted to rest on the body and close the outlet with theinterior of the tube in communication therewith, a motor carried by saidtube and controlled by the accumulation of water in the body to liftsteam heating systems, the combination of a body having an inlet and anoutlet, a tube one end of which is adapted to rest on the body and closethe outlet with the interior of the tube in communication therewith, amotor carried by said tube and controlled by the accumulation of waterin the body to lift said tube and open the outlet, a stationary guidepiece carried by the valve body and extending down into said tube, and ahead carried by the end of said guide within said tube and located belowthe level assumed by the bottom of the tube when the tube is raised bythe motor and provided with a sharp annular edge adapted to scrape theinner walls of the tube when the same is raised.

6. In a water and air relief-valve for steam heating systems, thecombination of a body having an inlet and an outlet and provided with atube, and a guide carried by the top of the body and extending down intothe tube and provided with a clearing device adapted to guide the tubeand scrape its inner walls when the tube is moved by the motor andlocated below the highest point assumed by the lower end of said tubewhen the same is raised.

In testimony of which invention, we have hereunto setour hands.

WM. W. MORGAN. JAMES L. FITTS. Witnesses:

R. M. KELLY, PY. QUINN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G.

